STRIKER Robert Earnshaw ended a personal international goal drought stretching back nearly two years as Wales mugged World Cup finalists Trinidad & Tobago in Austria on Saturday evening.

The Norwich City player scored twice in the UPC Arena in Graz to notch his first goals since John Toshack replaced Mark Hughes as manager in November 2004 - but the occasion belonged to Southampton teenager Gareth Bale.

At the age of 16 years and 315 days, the 54th-minute replacement for David Vaughan became Wales' youngest-ever international, overtaking fast-track Derby County defender Lewin Nyatanga, who made his debut against Paraguay in March at the age of 17 years and 195 days.

And what an accomplished performance it was from Bale, who confirmed his potential as a star of the future by setting up Earnshaw's winner three minutes from the end of a match which suggested that Trinidad could struggle to make an impact in Germany next month.

It's early days, of course, and Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker still has a fortnight to fine-tune his preparations before their opening match against Sweden - followed by the clash with England in Nuremburg on June 15 - but the Caribbean nation were unable to kill off a young and inexperienced Wales line-up who were second-best for long spells.

However, Beenhakker remained upbeat, despite the result.

"Obviously we hate losing but I have great respect for John Toshack and Wales and they played well," he said afterwards.

"On the whole, though, I do not think the result was a fair reflection on the game.

"We had most of the possession and the chances, but there is a big difference between preparation games and competitive ones. We are at a certain stage of our planning

and are two weeks away from our objective.

"That has to be playing Sweden. I cannot think of England now, although it is all I hear about. We must stay focused on Sweden and we realise we have a lot of work to do, so at the moment I can live with the defeat by Wales.

"England comes later and I know we will be better by then. Whether we will be good enough to beat Sweden, I don't know but we will do a much better job than we did tonight."

Trinidad head for Germany as the smallest country ever to qualify for the finals, but Beenhakker, insisting confidence was not a problem, put Saturday's contest into perspective.

"We are a small nation and we are about to be facing big players but we do

not think of going to Germany and losing," he added..

"We have got ambition and courage and we do not want to be coming home and watching the rest of the tournament on TV - just like my old friend John Toshack and Wales will be doing."

A joke perhaps, but also a painful reminder to Welsh football that qualification is the name of the game, and Been-hakker's comments were echoed in the banner sported by what appeared to be the Norwich City branch of the Wales supporters' club in Graz..

Its message proudly proclaiming: "We never confuse ambition with ability" possibly applies as much to the Canaries as to the national team and the sentiments seemed especially pertinent when Earnshaw fluffed a golden opportunity

to put Wales ahead in the opening minute of the game.

An error by Rangers defender Marvin Andrews left the striker in the clear, but his inability to quickly bring the ball under control enabled Wrexham's Dennis Lawrence to force him wide and when there was space for a shot, it was blocked.

Thereafter most of the football came from Trinidad, who deployed former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke in midfield behind Southampton's Kenwyne Jones and Coventry striker Stern John.

Ex-Wrexham favourite Carlos Edwards saw plenty of the ball in the opening period, but it was Port Vale's Chris Birchall who posed the biggest threat, bursting through from midfield on numerous occasions to test debutant Gillingham goalkeeper Jason Brown

Largely restricted to playing on the break, Wales saw another opportunity go begging when David Cotterill's 21st-minute effort was turned away by Kelvin Jack and Trinidad went ahead 11 minutes later when Birchall's free-kick was turned in at the far post by John.

But the lead lasted only five minutes before Joe Ledley's cross was nodded down by West Ham defender James Collins for Earnshaw to swoop, nipping in ahead of the keeper to volley the ball into the roof of the net.

It was the Norwich man's first Wales goal since the World Cup qualifier against Poland in October 2004 - the game that brought the Hughes era to an end - and he celebrated in obligatory fashion with a somersault in front of around 200 fans grouped in a

corner of the stadium.

Although Beenhakker had beforehand suggested wholesale changes at the interval it was his counterpart Toshack who shuffled the pack with four substitutions, including a first cap apiece for Leyton Orient keeper Glyn Garner and under-21 skipper Arron Davies.

But the momentum remained with Trinidad as Jones, Birchall and Yorke all went close and their dominance was increased when 37-year-old Russell Latapy came on with half an hour to play.

A legend in his homeland who is retiring following the World Cup, Latapy curled one great effort just wide and he then set up Falkirk team-mate Densill Theobald, whose first shot was blocked by Danny Gabbidon and his follow-up by Garner.

Lawrence also had a chance, heading Yorke's centre inches too high, and Latapy was denied by Garner in the closing stages before Trinidad were hit by a sucker punch.

Bale, steady and uncomplicated in everything he did after coming into the game in the 54th minute, overlapped down the left to meet an Earnshaw pass and the youngster cut to the byline before pulling the ball back for the striker whose near-post effort slipped through Jack's hands.

It was a moment for the teenager to cherish and provided a satisfactory conclusion to Toshack's end-of-season tour.

But much as they are looking forward to a summer break, he and his players would all love to swap places with Beenhakker and company.